Heidi [平装]

The highest standards in editing and production have been applied to the Wordsworth Children's Classics, while the low price makes them affordable for everyone. Wordsworth's list covers a range of the best-loved stories for children, from nursery tales, classic fables, and fairy tales to stories that will appeal to older children and adults alike. Many of these volumes have contemporary illustrations, and while they are ideal for shared family reading, their attractive format will also encourage children to read for themselves. Like all Wordsworth Editions, these children's books represent unbeatable value.

Amazon.com Review
Johanna Spyri's classic story of a young orphan sent to live with her grumpy grandfather in the Swiss Alps is retold in it's entirety in this beautifully bound hardcover edition. Heidi has charmed and intrigued readers since it's original publication in 1880. Much more than a children's story, the narrative is also a lesson on the precarious nature of freedom, a luxury too often taken for granted. Heidi almost loses her liberty as she is ripped away from the tranquility of the mountains to tend to a sick cousin in the city. Happily, all's well that ends well, and the reader is left with only warm, fuzzy thoughts. Spryi's story will never grow wearisome--and this is a very appealing edition. --Naomi Gesinger --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
This truncated retelling of orphan Heidi's simple life in the Swiss Alps and her sojourn in the big city seems almost as indebted to the Shirley Temple film as to Johanna Spyri's 1880 novel. Krupinski's (A New England Scrapbook) heroine mimics Temple, curls, button nose and all, though she lacks the actress's expressive smile and gestures. Similarly blank-faced characters contrast with Krupinski's serene, lushly idealized landscape paintings: the people seem like wax dolls, but the glowing blankets of flowers make the Alps heaven on earth. The text emphasizes the sensual joys of fresh goat's milk, fir trees "with their piney scent," Heidi's sweet-smelling bed in her grandfather's hay loft, etc., but that is its only demonstrable strength. Both Heidi's relationship with her grandfather and the idealized subplot about wheelchair-bound Klara's learning to walk are woodenly described; little space is given to dialogue and even less to Heidi's emotions. The plot, too, is severely condensed: "Many more good things happened after that day." The book succeeds as a portrayal of the joys of mountain life, but otherwise fails to do justice to Spyri's story of a girl's courage and persistence. Ages 5-9.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3. In telescoping Spyri's 300-page novel into a picture book, Krupinski puts Heidi in charge of telling her story. The efficient first-person narrative is well served by crisply detailed watercolor illustrations depicting Grandfather's house, the Swiss mountainside, and the people and goats who live there. The austere depictions of Heidi's detainment in the city in Klara's house contrast well with the lush mountain scenes. Pages are awash in accurately rendered alpine flowers. The children are winsome; Heidi resembles Shirley Temple. Youngsters who crave the full emotional story will no doubt need to be led to original versions, such as that illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith (Morrow, 1996), but Krupinski has created a fine introduction.?Susan Hepler, Alexandria City Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Ages 6^-9. With pretty illustrations of idyllic mountain scenes, Krupinski retells Spyri's classic story in picture-book form. The bright, collage-style illustrations in gouache and colored pencil are stiff and decorative, and the shortened version telescopes the 300-page novel into a few pages, so that much of the emotional impact is lost ("Soon after I arrived, I grew homesick" ). Why not let children wait a few years and enjoy Spyri's story, with or without the pictures? Hazel Rochman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
This 1884 translation, somewhat emended (as he explains in a note) by John Githens, is satisfactorily brisk and clear. Ungerer's many drawings (copyright Zurich, 1978) are splendidly agile, ranging from sly caricatures to deft evocations of settings; the generous number of full-color illustrations are mellower and more sympathetic, without straying into the sentimentality this classic often provokes. A handsome setting for an old favorite. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.